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eric_2203
Participant
March 22, 2026
Answered

Figure captions (titles) disappear after converting DITA XML Bookmap files to FrameMaker (.fm) files.

  • March 22, 2026
  • 4 replies
  • 82 views

I’m using a local installation of FrameMaker Version: 17.0.7.842 on my laptop.

I have a DITA Bookmap that needs to be converted to a FrameMaker book. My  DITA Bookmap conversion to FM results in a 542 page pdf book.

The book has 7 chapters (seven ditamaps making up the bookmap). In chapters that have less than 50 images, all figure captions are visible.

My issue is I have a chapter (chapter 2) that has 250 images. The figures are converted properly and have the expected Figure numbers below each figure. But no captions.

When I edit the DITA in chapter 2 and remove enough topics from the ditamap  to leave only 50 images, chapter 2 is published with all figure captions.

My take from this is that FrameMaker cannot convert ditamaps that have topics with more than 50 image elements without removing the figure captions.

I could add more chapters (ditamaps) to the bookmap, each ditamap only have having topics with 50 images max. However,  because of document standards, I cannot increase the number of chapters in this book to solve the issue that way.

Manually entering 250 captions after conversion from DITA to FM is my only option at this point and of course, very time consuming. I’ve manually entered a few captions, and after updating the book the List of Figures does successfully update with all of the figure captions.

My question - is there some way - through scripting maybe - that I can get FrameMaker to populate those empty Figure captions AFTER conversion?

Any ideas on how to solve this would be greatly appreciated!

 

Correct answer frameexpert

It’s odd to me that there is a threshold for the number of figures where captions occur. If the DITA is structured the same in the topics, then I would consider this a bug. Are you getting the figures, but just the content is dropped? If you have time for a web meeting, I can take a look at this with you. Please contact me offlist. rick at frameexpert dot com.

 

It would be possible to add the caption text through scripting, but it doesn’t seem like you should have to.

4 replies

Matt-Tech Comm Tools
Community Expert
Matt-Tech Comm ToolsCommunity Expert
Community Expert
March 24, 2026

Agreeing with Rick that this looks like a bug. However, it also may be that ditamap v. bookmap v. fm book conversions are at the heart of it.
I have a suspicion that the conversion is needed to get to PDF...meaning the issue might be support for PDF from ditamap, not an arbitrary limit on caption conversion.

Sidenote: A threshold of 50 in conversion sounds suspiciously like an entry in files related to the conversion process. 

Bottom line: Both should really be logged as bugs in the Tracker and voted upon by anyone affected. Please post tracker URLs if you report them.

 

-Matt Sullivan, FrameMaker Course Creator, Author, Trainer, Consultant
frameexpert
Community Expert
frameexpertCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
March 23, 2026

It’s odd to me that there is a threshold for the number of figures where captions occur. If the DITA is structured the same in the topics, then I would consider this a bug. Are you getting the figures, but just the content is dropped? If you have time for a web meeting, I can take a look at this with you. Please contact me offlist. rick at frameexpert dot com.

 

It would be possible to add the caption text through scripting, but it doesn’t seem like you should have to.

www.frameexpert.com
    Jeff_Coatsworth
    Community Expert
    Jeff_CoatsworthCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    March 24, 2026

    Did you figure it out Rick?

    frameexpert
    Community Expert
    frameexpertCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    March 24, 2026

    I think it’s a bug or possibly a memory issue. The OP has 16 GB of RAM, which is a bit light for FrameMaker these days, especially with 250 images in a chapter.

    www.frameexpert.com
    Jeff_Coatsworth
    Community Expert
    Jeff_CoatsworthCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    March 23, 2026

    You probably need someone like ​@frameexpert or ​@Matt-Tech Comm Tools to offer an opinion on what’s going on.

      Bob_Niland
      Community Expert
      Bob_NilandCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      March 23, 2026

      So the caption are missing on the pages, and in the LoF?

      I’m not a structured FM user, but can’t help noticing that all the missing caption strings are in group Figure-2.

      Separately, how are the captions implemented as FM objects (above or below image, what paragraph structure, etc.). FM does not have robust captioning capability, in particular lacking frame-above for anchoring.

        E
        eric_2203Author
        Participant
        March 23, 2026

        In the FrameMaker book template there is something called the .ini file. There you can configure the captions to appear below the image. 

        FrameMaker converts a DITA “Bookmap” to a FrameMaker book. A DITA Bookmap is composed of several dita maps. Each dita map represents a chapter of a book. Under each dita map are several dita topic files that are the contents of the chapter. The issue here is that it seems that having more than fifty images per chapter is too much for FrameMaker to handle. Chapter two of my book has around 250 images, which I believe is why the captions are not coming through for that chapter. I’m asking the community for a way to populate those captions after the conversion process is complete. 

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